EMQ FamiliesFirst Announces Partnership with RaiseAChild.US
Campbell, CA (PRWEB) October 22, 2013 -- EMQ FamiliesFirst proudly announces its new partnership with RaiseAChild.US, a nonprofit that encourages the LGBT community to build families through fostering and adoption. The agency reaches out and seeks prospective parents within the LGBT community, especially since receiving a certification from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “All Children - All Families” initiative. HRC’s ACAF training provides professional training and technical assistance to foster care and adoption agencies that want to welcome and support LGBT foster and adoptive parents. EMQ FamiliesFirst is California’s largest children’s services agency.
“Building a collaborative partnership with RaiseAChild.US allows us to reach even more LGBT families who may be considering building families through fostering and adoption,” says Roberto Favela, VP Administration & Foster Care Adoptions Services for EMQ FamiliesFirst. “Their expertise allows us to reach so many more LGBT families, which in turn permits us to better serve our waiting children.”
“We are delighted to work with EMQ FamiliesFirst,” says Rich Valenza, Founder and CEO of RaiseAChild.US. “This key partnership between RaiseAChild.US and EMQ FamiliesFirst will help facilitate the placement of so many more waiting children into safe, loving, and permanent homes.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families, there are 400,000 children in our nation’s foster care system. More than 104,000 of these children are available and waiting to be adopted. Families certified for either foster or adoptive placements are in short supply.
As shown in the 2010 U.S. Census data, children are being raised in over one million LGBT-headed households. While LGBT parents may encounter resistance from child welfare workers in some communities across the U.S., California law provides children who are in need of loving parents equal access to foster and adoptive families, regardless of the sexual orientation of the parents.
RaiseAChild.US campaigns welcome and support prospective LGBT parents while putting images of LGBT families into public spaces through PSAs, print media, and outdoor advertising. Since 2011, RaiseAChild.US has engaged more than 1,400 prospective parents nationally and become a leading organization for public education and advocacy on behalf of the 400,000 children awaiting foster and adoptive homes. For more information, visit RaiseAChild.US.
RaiseAChild.US works closely with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “All Children – All Families” (ACAF) initiative. To date, ACAF includes nearly 70 participating agencies across the country and has awarded 30 seals of recognition.
EMQ FamiliesFirst has foster care and adoption services in over 30 California counties working to bring children and families together. EMQFF believes that all individuals and their families deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Any family regardless of age, gender, race, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression is able to foster or adopt a foster child or teen. Homes are especially needed for sibling sets, teenagers, and children with medical or developmental needs. For more information, visit emqff.org.
About EMQ FamiliesFirst: EMQ FamiliesFirst is one of the largest, most comprehensive mental health treatment programs in the country. The agency takes a state-of-the-art approach to children and youth with complex behavioral health challenges. It combines research-based services (including evidence-based therapies and psychiatric services) with a family-centered effort to identify and address the complex needs of the family. Its results for youth are on average 10 percentage points higher when compared to state or national averages on metrics such as living at home, staying in school, and out of trouble. For more information, please visit http://www.emqff.org, join the Facebook page, and Twitter and Instagram at @emqff.
Corinne Lightweaver, Raise A Child Inc., http://www.RaiseAChild.US, +1 (323) 417-1440, [email protected]
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